Hate to Love
by PercyJacksonWillKickYourButt
Summary: Nico spends his most of his time sitting alone in random dark corners. Leo notices, and starts hanging around Nico; no one should have to feel as lonely as he did in the foster homes. While spending time with Nico, however, some feelings start to grow...
1. Chapter 1

**Hi. Yeah, I'm alive, believe it or not. And yeah, I should be working on other stories, but... This one wouldn't stop nagging at me. So yeah, this will eventually lead to full-blown Leico/Neo/Valdangelo/Ghostfire, whichever, so if you don't ship, don't read. And don't hate either. **

Nico was sitting in a dark corner in one of the Argo II's hallways, debating whether or not he should listen to music on one of the iPods that Leo made for each of them.

He weighed both options in his thoughts before finally putting earbuds in his ears. He figured music was better than listening to the seven other half-bloods deciding what they would do when they touched down in Long Island, and one satyr screaming not so threatening insults into the wind up on deck.

Nico was glad when he could no longer hear the satyr's pointless screams when the music filled his ears and drowned out everything else.

He wasn't paying attention to what was playing at first, so when it turned slightly techno, he got a little confused. He listened to the lyrics, something about ash and dust, and chemicals, and an apocalypse.

He realized it was a popular song, as he'd heard quite a few people talking about it on his walks out into the cities and towns. He couldn't remember who sang it, however, and didn't feel like checking it.

Then the song changed, and this one was even more techno, but he strangely found himself liking it. He closed his eyes and listened carefully to the lyrics, and the different parts of the song.

He then heard a song that he knew quite well, believe it or not, and began to hum along.

"Don't wanna let you down, but I am hell bound."

He thought the song fit him pretty well, and was enjoying the fact that _someone_ out there understood him–not by much, but at least enough–when it changed again. The song was a little too cheerful for him, so he finally gave in and opened his eyes to change it.

He froze.

There was someone sitting next to him. They had taken out Nico's earbuds, put one of those things that let a person use two pairs of earbuds on one device, and put both theirs and Nico's back in–all without Nico noticing. How that happened, he would never know.

He stared at the boy sitting next to him, his face hidden behind dark locks of curly hair. He had a dark tan, and he had a tool belt around his waist.

What was he doing? Leo turned his head, saw Nico watching him with a surprised and confused look. Leo chuckled nervously.

"Sorry. I just–I was curious about the type of music you listen to–" One Nico's eyebrows raised. "And that sounds super stupid now that I say it out loud, but... Uh..." Leo paused, and an uncomfortable silence filled the air.

"Do you really feel like no one is paying attention to what you say, or do you just like the song?" Nico blinked. "Okay... Never mind." Leo looked away for a moment or two, and Nico took this time to think about the question.

Most of the time he _does_ feel like no one can truly understand him, that no one is paying enough attention to him to understand what he's going through. Hazel is the closest person to him, but that's somewhat a default because they're siblings, and Bianca had died.

At the reminder of Bianca, Nico's eyes started to sting. It's been a couple years, but it still hurt, and probably will continue to hurt for the rest of his life.

Nico opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by another statement from Leo.

"I feel like no one ever pays attention to me. I'm only the lowly mechanic who uses humor to hide how he truly feels." Leo paused. "And now I'm confessing that to someone I barely know, just because I tend to listen to the same music as me. Why am I even..?" His last sentence started out as a whisper, and quieted down until it faded away all together.

Leo told Nico something personal, so against everything Nico normally believes, he thought it would only be fair to return it.

"Everyone thinks I'm the dark and emo guy sitting by himself, and sometimes I am. They're scared to even get close to me." Nico smiled sadly. "But they were probably too scared to go up to a little kid who bounced and around talking about stupid card games, and getting excited even when things were supposed to what 'normal' people would think we're terrifying." Leo cracked a smile and looked Nico in the eye.

"You were really a hyper little kid once? Wow. I never would have guessed. I thought you would be sitting in a corner wishing everyone would just go crawl in hole and die." Nico looked down.

"I kind of did, at one point." The smile on Leo's face quickly dropped from his face.

"Oh." Nico nodded, and question that was nagging him silently in the back of his mind came tumbling out of his mouth, surprising himself. He normally hated talking to people, especially when it had nothing to do with a quest or something of the like.

"When you said you use humor to hide what you really feel, what did you mean?" The music was still playing, and it took Nico a moment to realize he'd already taken one earbud out to be able to hear the boy sitting next to him. Leo had done the same at some point as well.

"I usually make a lot of jokes when I'm scared, or sad. It also helped when I was in all those foster homes. Humor kept me from getting picked on, let people have a reason to keep me around. But I could never forget the pain the jokes were trying to hide." Leo paused, picking his next words carefully, as far as Nico could tell. "My... My mom died, and it was my fault. We.. We were in her workshop, and we were about to leave. She forgot her keys inside. So when she went back..." Tears pooled in his bottom lid, and Nico began to feel awkward. He wasn't good with himself crying, let alone other people. "Anyway, Gaea showed up, and I kinda flamed up when I was banging on the door for my mom.. I set the building on fire, and none of my family members wanted me. My aunt even called me a diablo." He shook his head, a tear fell from his eye, and the warm drop landed on Nico's hand.

"I know how you feel. I don't remember seeing my mom die, but when my sister–" Nico's voice cracked, and he cut off. Leo's head snapped to the side.

"Your sister? But Hazel..." A tear betrayed Nico and fell from his eye, dripping slowly down his face to his chin, where it fell and landed somewhere on his shirt. Realization dawned in Leo's eyes. "You had another sister."

Nico's only response was the closing of his eyes and more warm, salty tears flowing down his cheeks. He was grateful Leo wasn't asking anymore questions at the moment.

"Bianca." He choked out, his voice heavy with emotion. Nico surprised himself once more with his openness to someone he barely knew. "She joined the Hunters, and she, Percy, and a couple others went on a quest to save Artemis. I made Percy promise me he would keep her safe. They were at your father's junkyard when she died. She sacrificed herself for the rest of them, gave Percy something to give me. It was a Hades statuette. The only one I didn't have for my game. When he came back and told me, I felt so betrayed. He promised! I kind of freaked out, and raised a bunch if skeleton warriors, who attacked Percy. I hated him. I hated him so much. But eventually I forgave him. But Bianca... She knew me better than anyone else."

Nico heard shuffling to his right and opened his eyes. Leo was standing up, and he offered a hand to help Nico up. Nico took it, his cold hand wrapping around Leo's warm one.

"Come on. I think we both need some chocolate." Nico raised an eyebrow. "What? Chocolate makes every thing better." He had a devilish grin, one that rivaled even Nico's, and he ran off toward the dining room, pulling Nico along the whole way.

**They were listening to the album Night Visions by Imagine Dragons, if you were wondering.**


	2. Chapter 2

Leo let go of Nico's hand as soon as they reached the dining room. The rest of the seven left while they were in the hallway, but Leo could still hear Hedge's "threats" coming from above deck.

"...What kind of chocolate did you have in mind, exactly?" Nico asked from the corner by the door. What is up with that kid and corners?

Leo was already looking through the cabinets for two bowls.

"The sweet, frozen kind." Leo answered simply.

"So, ice cream?"

"Exacta mungo." Leo turned with a goofy grin. He found two bowls, and he placed them on the table in front of two seats.

He pointed to a chair. "Sit."

Leo sat down without looking back at Nico. He saw the chair next to him pull out, and a black shape occupy the area it was just in out of the corner of his eye.

He wasn't paying much attention to Nico, however. He really wanted the ice cream. He grabbed one of the bowls and it instantly filled with a couple scoops of chocolate ice cream.

When he looked over at Nico, he realized the son of Hades had vanilla.

Leo mocked a gasp. "How dare you! I invited you for _chocolate_ ice cream, not _vanilla_!" Leo finished it off with a smile that–hopefully–told Nico he was kidding.

The corners of Nico's lips barely lifted, but they did. And Leo noticed. He freaked out a little more than he should have, but he wanted to see if he could get Nico to smile more. It was weird to see it, but it also made Leo feel accomplished. He could make Nico, lord of making people feel like they were about to pee their pants, smile!

It was pretty amazing.

"You just smiled!" Leo almost yelled. The slight smile on Nico's face disappeared instantly.

"No I didn't." he said.

"Yes you did!" Leo argued. "I saw it!"

"You must be hallucinating, then, because I didn't smile."

"You freaky little Ghost Prince! Yes you did! _I. Just. Saw. You._ Don't lie to me! I know what I saw!" And with that said, Leo suddenly had an idea. An evil idea that was sure to get him killed, but an idea nonetheless.

He couldn't help it. A devilish grin grew on his face.

"Uh, Leo? What's with the smile?" Leo moved his chair a little closer to Nico. "Seriously, what is up with that smile? I'll kill you. What are you–Oh gods. Not that. Anything but that! I barely even know you why are you going to–?"

Nico was cut off when Leo went all "tickle monster" on him. Nico jerked and thrashed in his chair until he fell on the floor. That wasn't going to make Leo stop, though. He got out of his chair and kept tickling him.

Nico had a childish laugh, one filled with giggles and gasps, one that was so ironic for the son of Hades to have that Leo had to chuckle. Nico laughed so hard, tears started to stream from his eyes.

"Stop!" he cried. "Stop it!" He barely finished his demand when he fell into a fit of giggles again.

"Never!" Leo said with the biggest grin on face he'd had in a long time. Nico was full of so many surprises, that much was certain. He went against basically every stereotype that people thought about him.

"I don't even know you!" Nico just about screamed. "Why are you–" he giggled for a couple seconds before continuing. "Tickling me?"

Leo finally stopped to let Nico actually breathe. He didn't think it would be a good idea to let the Ghost Prince laugh so hard he turned purple–though that would be fun to watch. He would have to tickle Nico again later.

Nico sat there, in a ball, protecting himself from Leo, probably from tickling him again. His breathing evened out.

Nico glared at Leo with a look so deadly, Leo was seriously thinking about fainting right then and there to get out of his punishment.

"Do you have a death wish?" Nico asked quietly.

"Funny you say that, actually," Leo's voice was a couple octaves higher. He cleared his throat to try to get his voice back to normal. It didn't work. "I always get that."

Nico chuckled darkly and raised his hand toward Leo. Forget fainting on purpose, Leo was about to faint from fear, he knew it.

Nico lunged with the speed of a cheetah pouncing on its prey, and the comparison was just as chilling.

Nico's hand went to Leo's stomach, and he braced himself for a punch.

Instead, he felt a tickle, and he burst out laughing.

Nico's hands went to Leo's neck, his armpit, his side, every place where people got ticklish.

Leo fell to his knees. _This is a punishment?_

Leo tried to open his eye through the laughing, and he saw Nico with a huge smile on his face.

_It was so worth it,_ he thought. _To see Nico smile like this. Everyone deserves happiness once and a while._

Leo was on his side trying to escape the tickling so he could breathe. He didn't feel anything for a while, so he just stayed there with his eyes closed tightly, chuckling every now and again.

He heard Nico laugh above him. He opened one eye to see Nico's foot right in front of his face. He looked up and into Nico's dark, dark eyes.

"That's one way to make me regret tickling the heck out of you..." Nico smiled, a real smile, and Leo felt like he was starting to break through a shell.

Nico offered Leo his hand, and Leo took it.

They were silent for a couple seconds before Leo broke it.

"Okay, that's it." Nico looked at him questionably. "You don't have friends, like, real friends. Everyone needs at least one. I can make you laugh and smile," He nudged Nico with his elbow and gave him a goofy grin, and Nico smiled back a toothy smile. "See? So, any games you like to play?"


	3. Chapter 3

**You guys should be so proud of me; I'm actually updating a story often (probably because school is over and I have time to write), and the chapters are long(ish) for me!**

Nico told Leo about Mythomagic, even though he swore to himself he would never tell anyone.

He lead Leo to his room, which was originally a guest room on the Argo II.

They were almost there when Jason came running down the stairway, his sword drawn, breathing deeply.

He looked around until he spotted Nico and Leo. He gestured wildly for them to follow him as he turned and ran back up the stairs.

Nico ran forward, and Leo followed. Nico drew his Stygian iron sword, and heard a snap and a small whoosh behind him. He figured Leo opened one of the pockets on his tool belt pulled something out of it, then snapped it shut. He also must've set his hand or a finger on fire, because Nico could smell smoke, and that would also explain the whooshing sound from before.

They soon reached sunlight at the end of the stairway. When Nico stepped on the landing, he was greeted with the sight of the rest of the seven and Hedge with weapons drawn, fighting against a...

"What _is_ that?" Leo exclaimed. Nico just shook his head in confusion. He had no idea what this thing was... It was like a mix of a harpy and a mermaid.

It was really weird. The tail was a dark blood red, and the scales were small and hard to see. There were sharp needle-like things on both ends of the fin. The feathers were the same color as the scales. It had sharp teeth, and its pale skin was tinted red. It had bright red eyes that were darting in every direction as it attacked–also in every direction.

It was flying, and the more it moved, the more water droplets flew from its tail. It was fast. No one could get a good hit on it before it flew to the next person to slash it's tail at. It would also swing its clawed hands, but that was hard, since it was still trying to fly.

"Come on!" Leo said as he lobbed a fireball at the back of the creature's head. It hit it, but didn't do much damage, as it just brought its attention to the two of them.

"Leo, you idiot!" Nico said, and Leo shrugged helplessly. Nico swung his sword, trying to hit it in the throat, but it was too fast, and it flew around him to Leo.

Leo put his hands up as they caught on fire, trying to protect himself. Nico was already running to a shadow.

The thing put its tail to the side to prepare to strike. Just as it brought it up to slash Leo, Nico was between them, in the shadow of the creature. He brought his sword up in time to slice the fin off of the rest of the tail.

"Thanks," Leo breathed out, and Nico nodded.

The creature screeched and dove at Nico with its claws out. Leo took this opportunity to throw practically every tool on the face of the Earth at its face.

It brought its hands up to protect itself, Leo threw another ball of fire at it, and its hands burned.

A golden tip suddenly protruded from its chest, and it dissolved into dust. Percy stood behind where it once was, holding Riptide out. He brought it down.

"What was that?" he asked, then looked around at the different faces. No one had an answer.

"Just be glad it's dead!" Coach Hedge screamed, and a couple heads bobbled up and down.

"But..." Annabeth started. She looked frustrated that she didn't know what they were dealing with. Children of Athena got so upset when they don't know something.

"Oh, for the love of Zeus, girl!" Hedge began. "It's dead. Worry about what it was later. Right now, it's time for dinner." He swung his hands in a shooing motion. "Go, go!"

**.o0o.o0o.o0o.**

Nico and Leo sat next to each other that evening, surprising everyone. Nico could feel the surprise radiating off of them; he didn't need to see the expression on their faces.

They were even more surprised when Nico and Leo were talking silently about Mythomagic, and Leo made a joke, causing Nico to chuckle.

Nico looked over when the entire room went silent, and he first saw Frank with a fork full of rice pause before his opened mouth, his eyes wide open and staring at Nico.

It was a similar reaction all around the table.

"Nico?" Jason asked. "Did you–Did you just–?"

"Laugh?" Nico interrupted him with a slight smile. "Why, yes, yes I did."

Percy put down his spoon. "At something _Leo _said?" Nico nodded. He knew why they were so shocked. He barely even talked anymore, let alone laughed, and he was pretty sure everyone thought that Nico hated Leo because of his "happy-go-lucky" personality.

He did, actually, at first. But after hearing that it was all basically an act, he started to like the older boy. He could relate, to a point.

He nodded. Annabeth raised an eyebrow.

"Since when have you two been so chummy?" Percy grimaced at the mention of chum, and Nico shrugged. Leo answered before Bico could even open his mouth.

"This afternoon, actually." Now both of Annabeth's eyebrows raised.

"It's a long, boring story that we need not get into this very second." Leo deadpanned, and went back to his quesadilla. Nico also raised his eyebrows. Leo glanced up and saw Nico looking, and shrugged. Nico shook his head and went back to his dinner, fighting off the urge to look at Leo's cute elfish face–

_Oh gods, not again._


	4. Chapter 4

Leo continued to hang out with Nico a lot more often after that.

It was only two days after the "tickling incident," as Leo was starting to call it, and the two boys were sitting on the couch, in front of a TV, trying to decide what to watch.

"Why can't we just watch Full House?" Leo asked as he threw his head against the back of the couch. He stared up at the ceiling as Nico have his answer.

"Because, I've seen every episode a couple of times, and they get kind of annoying after a while."

Leo groaned. Why did Nico have to be such a hardheaded person? He couldn't even suffer through at least one episode of Full House for a friend?

Leo turned his head to the side to look at Nico. That was a bad idea, however, for it was right when Nico decided to grace his lips with an evil grin. Leo bolted upright, and slowly scooted a couple inches away from Nico.

"Why the smile?" he asked. His voice shook slightly. Nico could be very scary when he wanted to be.

"Because I know what we're going to watch, and you're not backing down." Leo gulped. When the son of Hades says something like that, the only smart option is to be terrified. Leo is smart. He is terrified.

"What?" he asked, drawing out the word in his fear. Nico got up and walked over to the stack of DVDs. Leo watched as he ran his finger down the titles and picked a black one out. Leo's eyes widened.

"It's not–?" He began to ask, but Nico cut him off with another evil grin. Leo gulped once again. If he was right, it was the latest horror movie. Leo had heard that it made people pee their pants, and that there was some kind of curse with it.

Nico hadn't even put it in, and Leo was ready to pee his pants. Horror movies scared the heck out of him. He used to see bits and pieces of them in some of the foster homes. It scarred him for life. He would never look at dolls and puppets the same way again.

"Uh, Nico?" Leo began warily as he slowly got up from his spot on the couch. "I think I'll just–"

Nico ran over and pushed Leo back down by the shoulders. "Oh, no you don't. You are going to watch it. It's _really_ not that bad."

Nico looked like he was trying to hold back a laugh, and Leo got his "whine" on.

"You're laughing at me!" he almost yelled. Nico's smile got bigger as he tried to defend himself.

"No I'm not!" He started to laugh at the end, though, and that ruined his defensive statement.

"See! You're doing it right now!" Leo was only dimly aware that Nico's hands were still on his shoulders. The back of his mind blamed it on his fear.

Nico's smile grew even more, and he walked away. The lights turned off.

"Not the lights!" Leo complained. He lifted his feet up off of the floor, and pulled his knees up to his chest.

"You're really scared, aren't you?" Nico asked with a slight smile as he sat back down.

"No, I'm just sitting like this because I can't wait to see a unicorn fart rainbows." Leo gave Nico an exasperated look. Nico was smiling again, teeth and all.

_I never thought I would _actually_ see him smile,_ Leo thought._ Let alone see him smiling a lot._

"Okay, sure, fine. But seriously, you have to watch this. I'll be here to chase the evil monsters away." He wriggled his fingers. Leo laughed quietly.

"_That's_ reassuring." Leo looked back at the dark screen hesitantly.

Nico obviously noticed; he got up and pressed play.

**.o0o.o0o.**

It was the worst five minutes Leo had ever experienced. The movie started in a graveyard, and hands popped out of the ground and lunged toward the girl there when they least expected it.

Every time something popped out of the ground, or grabbed at the girl, or anything of that nature, Leo would jump so hard Nico looked over with a grin. Leo covered his eyes every time.

Leo heard chuckling next to him. He moved his fingers so he could see a little sliver and looked at Nico, who sat there, bent over, laughing and holding his stomach.

"It's not funny!" Leo screamed, which only made Nico laugh harder. He soon cooled off enough to talk. He sat up and looked at Leo.

"It's only a couple minutes in, and you look ready to pee your pants."

Leo gave him a blank look.

"Horror movies and I go way back, and it's not in a good way. They scarred me for life, so, you really shouldn't be surprised if I run out of here screaming my head off." Apparently, Nico found the image amusing. He covered his mouth and started to shake slightly. Leo knew he was laughing.

He pushed him over. "Yeah, it's funny now. Just don't start complaining when you have third degree burns."

Nico sat back up. There was still a smile on his face, but he wasn't laughing anymore, thank the gods.

They watched on for another twenty minutes, in which time Leo freaked out repeatedly, and Nico chuckled at Leo every time.

There was one particularly horrifying scene where Leo couldn't handle it anymore, and he threw himself on Nico. His head was on Nico's shoulder, and his arms were around Nico's neck.

"Make the monsters go away," Leo said quietly into his shoulder. Nico was tense, but soon he loosened up and, hesitantly, put his arms around Leo.

"It's okay Leo. It's just a movie. It's special effects. The ones we face everyday are way worse than that." Nico obviously still turned the movie off, though. The screams in the movie cut off abruptly, and Leo doubted it was because the owners of those screams were eaten.

"Leo." Nico poked Leo's head once, twice. "Leo seriously. I know you're not asleep."

"What?" He groaned in reply.

"The movie has been over for a couple of minutes."

"So?"

"Your head is still on my shoulder, and your arms are still around my neck."

Leo felt his face warm. He figured he must've looked a little pink, if it wasn't so dark. He muttered a little "Oh," and sat up.

"Well, it's almost time for me to check how Festus is doing, again, so, I'm just going..." He gestured to the door, saw Nico's head bounce in the small amount of moonlight, and left to go check on his metal friend.


	5. Chapter 5

Nico stayed to watch the rest of the movie, but he couldn't focus on it. His mind kept going back to what happened before Leo left.

He could make no sense of it. The girl only lost her head, and Leo flung himself on Nico, hiding his eyes from the movie.

Nico was shocked at first, to say the least. He was _not _expecting to be bear hugged around the neck by a Hispanic elf.

His thoughts were cut off by a bloodcurdling scream that made him jump and reach for his sword, but he realized it was just the movie. Another girl's head was cut off, and the end credits rolled in.

Nico shook his head. What kind of an ending was that?

He turned off the TV and decided to explore the ship some more. It wasn't that late yet, the others were probably still talking in the dining room, deciding who was on what watch for the week, perhaps.

Nico probably should've been there, but he honestly didn't care what watch he was on. It wasn't like he was going to talk to the other anyway.

He somehow found himself on deck, looking out over the railing at the slowly rising moon.

He let his thoughts take over, which was a pretty bad idea. All they wanted to think about was Leo, and Nico _really _didn't want to fall for another guy who will never like him back. He's had enough of that for a lifetime.

But his thoughts continued.

He thought about Leo's cute elfish features, though he hated the fact that he used the word "cute."

He thought about his unruly curls, how they stuck up in some places despite Leo trying to pat them down.

He though about–

The door opening broke Nico from his thoughts, very happy for a distraction.

Until he saw that the distraction _was _all that his thoughts seemed to be about.

"Hey, Nico." Leo smiled. He walked over to Nico and stood next to him, looking off into the distance.

"I didn't know you would be out here." Leo said.

"I didn't either. I was just walking and thinking, and I ended up out here."

Leo nodded like he understood. "I come here a lot to think. Fresh air, you know? And Festus is, like, right over there, so I some times talk to him."

Nico didn't know how; he'd heard the dragon "talk." It was only a series of clicks and whirs. Though, Leo was a son of Hephaestus. He understood a lot more when it came to machinery.

"Speaking of which," Leo said as he began to walk backwards toward the front of the ship. "I don't think you've met. Come on, I'll introduce you." Nico raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. It couldn't hurt. He followed Leo.

"Festus. This is my friend, Nico." The metal dragon head made a lot of sounds, and Leo translated.

"He says, 'It's nice to meet you.'" Nico nodded.

"Likewise." He turned back to Leo. "So, you really understand him?"

Leo nodded. "Of course. Though, it's probably a Hephaestus thing. But I've never noticed any of my siblings talk to him, or show any hints of understanding him, so it might just be a mechanic to his machine thing. I don't really know."

Nico chuckled at the thoughtful look Leo had at the moment. It was, dare he say it, cute. Leo was looking up at the sky, with his lips pursed, and his hand on his chin.

Leo looked back at him. He stared for a moment or two, Nico staring back, until Leo broke it.

"I should probably go check on the engines before I pass out from exhaustion. So, good night, Nico." He turned to leave.

"Night." Nico called back. He saw Leo nod as he walked to the stairs.

Nico stayed out for a couple more minutes, thinking, until he got cold. He walked to his room and got ready for bed.

He took his sword off of his belt, traded his black jeans for black sweatpants, and took off his shirt.

He laid down and closed his eyes. It took awhile, but he finally fell asleep.

_Nico was in a dark room. There didn't seem to be any light, and there was a faint rumbling sound from... Somewhere. He didn't know where._

_The rumbling grew louder, and with it an evil laugh ripped through the empty room. Nico thought it was familiar._

_He heard a giant crack, and red light burst from a fissure in the floor in front of him. It was growing._

_He stumbled backwards, but the farther he went the faster it opened. The laughing and rumbling grew so loud it hurt his ears, and he plugged them with his fingers. It didn't work. It was still getting louder._

_The crack in the floor reached him, and he fell, grabbing onto a ledge at the last second. It was a tiny ledge, only a couple centimeters. His fingers started to hurt, and they started to slip._

_Water dripped onto the ledge, making his fingers slip even more, and he fell. He fell so quickly the wind hurt his ears, made it hard to breath. He tried to scream, but it came out as a feeble squeak._

_He was thrown around, so he was now facing the top of the crack, his back to the bottom. He could scream now, he did scream now. He screamed until his throat felt raw._

_Then he hit the bottom. He made a small sound in pain. His vision swam, up was down, left was right, and he couldn't tell what direction he was facing in._

_Soon his vision improved. He looked around from his spot lying on the ground. The dark red skies were all too familiar._

_He was back in Tartarus._

_He screamed again._


	6. Chapter 6

Leo was looking through Festus's circuits. He'd been a tad bit slower than usual, and Leo wanted to make sure it was just the age of his parts making him so.

Everything seemed just fine, except for a couple of bolts getting loose. He tightened them, said goodnight to the metal dragon head, and headed to his room.

He was dead tired, he could probably sleep for months, if the ship could've been left without him for that long.

He shook his head to try to wake him up a little. It only succeeded in making him slightly dizzy. He stumbled for a second.

He sighed and continued to trek quietly to his room.

His thoughts began to wander.

He thought back to the horror movie they watched. Yes, it terrified him. Yes, he wondered why anyone would make such a thing. Yes, he wondered we he even watched it in the first place. Yes, he wished they never did. But yet, he's still glad Nico put it in.

He found Nico's smell of vanilla comforting, and it took his mind off of the screams of torture from the movie. It helped him relax. He almost felt like falling asleep.

He almost did, but just as sleep pulled him over, Nico poked him several times and told him he turned off the movie.

For some reason that Leo could not explain, he was slightly disappointed that he didn't fall asleep then.

He finally made it to the rooms, cutting off all of his thoughts about the pale Italian.

He reached his hand out to turn the knob to his door. It froze when he heard a bloodcurdling scream.

All signs of exhaustion blew out the metaphorical window as he trained his ears to pinpoint where the scream was coming from.

He ran down to the end of the hallway. It was coming from the guest room.

That's where Nico sleeps. His mind quietly reminded him. He jiggled the knob–it was locked.

The scream stopped. Fear washed over Leo. What if something was in there? What if it got Nico?

Leo was about to ram his shoulder into the door before he remembered the tool belt around his waist. He reached down and pulled out a screwdriver to take the knob off.

It fell with a clang within seconds, and he ran inside. Nico was tossing and turning. He started screaming again, yelling something about not wanting to go back, and begging for someone to not let him fall. There were tears streaming down his cheeks.

Leo was by his side in seconds, trying to wake him up. He shook his shoulders, slapped him, and grabbed a squirt bottle from his belt to pour water over Nico's head.

"Nico! Wake up! It's Leo, wake up!" He yelled as he shook his shoulders more. Nico's eyes snapped open with a giant gasp. Leo let out a breath of relief, and Nico shot up without warning and into Leo's arms. It was Leo's turn to "make the monsters go away."

Leo's shoulder was soon damp with Nico's tears.

"Don't let me fall." Nico sobbed quietly into Leo's shoulder. "Don't let me go back."

Leo's hand found Nico's hair as Hazel burst into the room, the others behind her, wide awake and alert. She smiled faintly, mouthed "Thank you," to Leo, and turned to leave. The rest looked in to see what was going on, and then turned to do the same as Hazel.

Leo turned back to Nico.

"I won't let you fall." He could easily guess what Nico's nightmare was about, by this time. "You're not going back. Not if I can help it."

They stayed like that for a while, Leo whispering words to make Nico feel better as the other calmed.

Leo was pretty sure Nico fell back asleep. He tried to lay the cold boy back down, but his grip was like iron.

"Don't leave me..." Nico whispered. "Don't leave like everyone always does." Leo couldn't handle it anymore. His heart melted, and he whispered back with a slight smile.

"Well, I have to get comfortable, don't I?" Nico loosened his grip on Leo enough to let him lay down next to him.

Leo wrapped his arms around Nico's small frame pulled him close.

"I'll chase away the evil nightmares." He whispered in Nico's ear.

**.o0o.o0o.o0o.**

Leo woke up much later that morning. The sun was shining, and if there were birds this high up, he was sure they would be chirping.

He forgot were he was for a second, and why Nico was in his arms fast asleep, until the night came rushing back to him.

His promise to Nico.

Speak–more like think–of the devil, Nico groaned and rolled over, so he was now facing Leo.

He looked more like a kid. All creases in his face from glaring at people were gone, and he even had a slight smile on his lips. He was as curled up as he could get with a second person lying next to him. Leo thought it was adorable.

He tried to convince himself that he meant it in a "big brother to little brother" way. Or maybe a "guy to puppy" kind of way.

He also had to admit, that was the best he'd slept in a while. He figured the same for Nico, as the slight bags that were normally under his eyes were fading.

He continued looking down at Nico's sleeping form until his dark eyes fluttered open.

"Morning, sweetheart." Leo said with a grin. Nico gave a sleep-induced glare. It wasn't very threatening. He looked like a tiny puppy trying to take on a person's foot. Adorable.

Nico sat up and rubbed his eyes. Leo sat up after him.

"What time is it?" he asked in a groggy voice. Leo looked at the clock on the wall.

"Almost eight."

Nico groaned and threw himself back down on his pillow. Leo laughed quietly. He grabbed another pillow that fell on the ground and poised to throw it down on Nico.

"Throw it and I kill you." Nico said, his eyes still closed, and Leo dropped the pillow instantly, his grin wiped off his face. It came back a second later.

"Wakey, wakey, _Nicito_. It's time to get up and live through the day!" Nico groaned and smashed the other pillow on top of his head. Leo laughed. Morning Nico was adorable.

Leo realized he'd been using that word to describe Nico a lot lately. He didn't know why. It's just the first word to come to mind.

Leo stood up and grabbed Nico's arm.

"No, really. You're really skinny, and it's time for breakfast. You need to eat. I will shove a waffle down your throat if I have to. "He added when Nico still didn't make a move to get up.

Leo pulled him up and dragged him to the door. "I'm being serious."

"Fine," Nico groaned.

Leo grinned.

_ I still got it._


	7. Chapter 7

Nico really didn't feel like eating. He wasn't even hungry. But when Leo cut up a waffle, stabbed one piece with a fork, and shoved it in Nico's mouth, he decided to try to eat.

He was pretty sure he saw Hazel give Leo a thankful glance before going back to her own breakfast.

He was half way done the waffle when he put the fork down.

"Oh no, you're not done yet." Leo grabbed the fork and shoved another piece in Nico's mouth. Nico was temped to spit it out on the plate, but everyone was watching this time; it would be kind off gross. Plus, he figured Leo would only force-feed him even more, so he just looked Leo in the eye and chewed it slowly.

"That's an improvement. I could've sworn you would've spit it out." Leo had no idea just how true that was. The corners of Nico's mouth curved up in a slight smile, the guilt showing through. Leo chuckled.

"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up." Nico said, and Leo laughed a little harder. Nico sighed and tried to stomach another piece of waffle.

the two hung out in the engine room. Nico was sitting on the chair backwards, so the back of it was against his chest. Leo was somewhere in the mess of machinery, checking up on everything.

"I just have one question," Nico said while Leo's head bobbled up from behind an engine every now and then.

"Shoot." Leo practically yelled over the hum of the engines.

"Why did you call me Nicito this morning?" Nico heard a small bang, and a quiet "ow," before Leo began.

"It, uh, basically means 'little Nico' in Spanish. It kind of just came out. I wasn't even thinking." Truth be told, Nico kind of liked the nickname. It reminded him of Italian, and that reminded him of his "little kid" days. Leo was starting to bring the old him back, so why not have a nickname that reminded him of his old self?

"No, it's okay." Nico said. "It's pretty much the only nickname you have for me that I can stand." Leo's grease-stained face popped up from behind a motor. Along with the grease smudges, there was a mischievous grin.

Nico was starting to regret telling him he didn't mind the nickname.

"I'll remember that, Nicito." Nico felt his checks warm slightly. Really regretting it.

Nico heard a shuffling noise. Leo walked around the heaping hunk of metal. He was wiping his hands off with an oil-stained cloth.

"So that's done." He said. "What do you want to do now?" Nico shrugged. "You are no help."

Nico cracked a smile. "We could watch another scary movie." Leo's eyes widened in fear.

"No, no, no, no, no–" All signs of terror washed away from Leo's face as another mischievous grin formed on his lips. "You just want another Leo-cuddle, don't you?"

Nico's smile wiped off his face, and his checks burned, no doubt the color of a freshly picked tomato.

"That's not–! I didn't mean–!" Nico stuttered, and Leo laughed.

"I'm just messing with you!" Nico glared at Leo. He _would_ bring that back up as a joke. As much as Nico hated to admit it, he actually did want more "Leo-cuddles."  
He really wished his mind would stop thinking.

"Whatever." Nico said, his blush starting to fade. "Well, I can't think of anything to do."

Leo shook his head. "I can't either. We have to think of something."

Nico racked his brain for something to do. He didn't think Leo could really handle another horror movie, and he wasn't really up for another tickle war. The only things that really came to mind were hanging out in a city or town, or playing Mythomagic. He didn't think they could do the former, as they were currently flying high above the ground, and he couldn't bring himself to suggest the latter; it would bring up bad memories.

Yes, he already told Leo about it, but talking about something is different then actually doing it.

"How about..." Leo began, trailing off as he looked up in thought. "I would say swimming, because it's hot outside and that's the only thing I can think of, but..." Leo looked at Nico, whose face had gone considerably paler at the thought of swimming.

It wasn't the water that scared him, he knew how to swim (Sort of. He still felt way more com portable when his feet could touch the floor.). It was the fact that he would have to take off his shirt.

Nico was really skinny, he knew it. A person could see a lot of his bones–his spine, a couple ribs, his collarbone stuck out. He didn't think Leo needed to see that.

But then again, Leo was pretty skinny too, and he seemed more understanding than the others. He understood on the same level; the others only knew he felt something. Leo knew exactly how he felt.

Well, for most things. Nico doubted Leo knew what it was like to fall in love with another guy, who fell in love with someone else.

Either way, he doubted Leo would care that he was so skinny. So he nodded.

"I guess we could." he finally decided. "But I don't have swim trunks. And since when goes the Argo II have a pool?"

Leo grinned. "You can wear one of mine. I'm pretty sure I have a mostly black one. And as for the pool, it been here since I built the baby. I just never told anyone about, didn't see the need to."

Nico nodded, somewhat unsurprised.

**.o0o.o0o.o0o.**

As long as Nico tied the strings fairly tight, Leo's swimsuit fit pretty well.

The only problem with it was, although it was mostly black, there were little hammers and wrenches on it. He looked at Leo.

"I honestly didn't even know they had hammer designs..." Nico admits.  
"I didn't either. I found it when we were at this crazy woman's clothing department. Pretty sure she was a witch. Anyway, I found it on our way out, and I kind of took it. So worth it." Nico had no idea what Leo was talking about, but he didn't really care.

He realized in that moment _why_ he didn't care. It was not a reason he was particuarly happy about

_Oh gods..._ He thought. _It's really happening again..._

He shook his head. Leo lead him to the secret pool, which was on a hidden deck near the back of the ship.

It looked like any other public pool, except walls and floor of it was a mosaic of reds, oranges, and yellows. The shallow end was probably about three feet, and the deepest was probably eleven or twelve feet.

Leo threw the towels down on a lawn chair sitting by the pool.

"How did you even get away with this?" Nico asked in slight awe. He walked closer to the shallow end. Leo looked back and shrugged before jumping into the deep end.

Nico sat on the edge where Leo jumped off and dangled his feet in the water.

Leo's head popped up beside Nico's feet. He raised his eyebrow at Nico.

"What, you're not even going to get it? And you're going to wear your shirt to swim? That's all kinds of weird."

"Yeah, but I don't–" Nico began to defend himself, but Leo cut him.

"Dude, look at me. I'm one of the scrawniest kids you'll ever meet. I won't judge. I can't, not really." Leo slapped Nico's shin with the back of his hand. Then he added softly: "And real friends wouldn't think it matters anyway."

Nico smiled and slipped the black shirt up and over his head. He threw it in the direction of the towels, but it landed a foot or two off.

Leo laughed. "But I think you should work on your aim."

Suddenly, Nico felt hands on his ankles, and was pulled into the water. The last thing he saw before going under was Leo's ever mischievous grin.


	8. Chapter 8

Leo pulled Nico underwater.

He grabbed Nico's ankles, and yanked with all of his strength. It was surprisingly easy, considering how light Nico actually was.

When Nico went under, his hand shot up and groped for the edge. When he finally got his hand on it, he started to pull himself up.

He must've been at a bad angle. As soon as he started to pull up, his hand slipped and back into the water he went. He flailed around, and Leo noticed his eyelids were tightly pulled together.

He also realized with a jolt that Nico was obviously not the best swimmer.

He quickly reached out for Nico's arm and pulled him closer to him, Nico's back to Leo's front.

Nico's head was above water, and he used to free hand to rub his eyes, kind of viciously. He was practically gasping for breath.

"Don't..." He gasped out as his breathing evened out. "Don't do that again."

Leo chuckled. "Never again, not after that."

Leo swam backwards slowly. He moved his hand from Nico's arm and, instead, put his arm under each of Nico's armpits, his arm stretching across the top of Nico's chest.

Leo's face became very warm when he noticed swimming like that made Nico float above him, his shoulders touching the top of Leo's chest, their heads very close to each other.

He was confused by his current hatred of the water for separating the rest of them by a couple of inches, and his urge to close that distance.

He shook his head slightly, and continued swimming toward the shallower end. He turned his head to the left so he couldn't see the hair on Nico's beautiful head–

_Where did that thought come from?_ He asked himself.

He tried to forget it and stopped in the five foot zone.

"Can you stand here, or do I have to go even further?" he asked in a teasing tone. He could almost hear the growl escaping Nico's barely parted lips.

Nico's head fell back on Leo's shoulder. He felt his checks warm up again. He glanced at Nico.

Nico's eyes were closed, and...

Was it just Leo, or did Nico's face look more pink than usual?

"Go further."

Nico's voice pulled Leo out of his thoughts. Leo nodded, thankful for the distraction.

What was up with his thoughts lately?

He swam closer to the four-foot, about halfway between the four and the five.

"Is here good?" Leo asked. He saw Nico smirk slightly.

"Nah, I think you should go further. Maybe all around the pool?"

Leo laughed and gently shoved Nico away from him, resulting in a laugh from the latter.

Leo's laughs turned into a smile as he saw the smaller boy turn around. Nico was smiling, and he flipped the wet hair out of his face. When pieces were still dangling in front of his eyes, he gave up and lifted his hand to swipe them away.

Leo realized he was staring–with the same smile he had after he shoved Nico away.

He cleared his throat and looked to the chairs behind Nico.

He saw a movement out of the corner of his eye, and jumped when water came crashing down around him. He threw his arms up to protect his face out of habit, and he chuckled.

Nico, Ghost King, _Prince of the Underworld_, just splashed him. Nico stood there with a goofy grin. Leo looked at him with a challenge written all over his face.

He jutted his hands out in front of him and created, what he thought, judging by Nico's reaction to it, the saddest wave anyone has ever seen.

Nico threw his head back and laughed his heart out. He was gripping his sides and, either tears dripping from his eyes, or water from his hair, fell from his face and into the pool.

Leo smiled; he was pretty sure he was the only one who could cause that kind of reaction from Nico now.

Leo tried to splash Nico again. This time he made a stronger wave, catching Nico completely off guard.

He looked back at Leo with an evil grin, and he slashed Leo with a wave that was–somehow–bigger than the first wave. Leo chuckled and looked at Nico when the water stopped flying.

"Oh," he began. "Now it's war." With his grin still in place, he and Nico splashed each other constantly, never allowing the other to recover from the onslaught of water.

**.o0o.o0o.o0o.**

After the "little" water-war, they both sat next to each other on the edge of the pool, their feet and ankles submerged.

Leo was well aware of Nico's knee touching his. Every time he let his thoughts linger on it (which really was a bad idea) his face heated up and he looked to his right, away from the small, pale Italian on his left.

Leo had no idea what was going on with him. He only got that way around a girl that he really liked–

Leo froze. His head was still pointing away from Nico, and he has never been happier that it was. His face burned more than it ever has, he was almost sure his face was on fire, but when he lifted his hand to pat down the flames, there weren't any.

He was blushing, hard.

Leo was so sure he was straight. He wouldn't care if he wasn't, but he always fell for girls, so the thought of him being gay, or bi, has never crossed his mind.

But now it does.

Sitting there, next to Nico, his face burning with the passion of a thousand suns, he began to realize he actually must be bi.

Why else would he blush every time he saw Nico smile? Or every time he accidentally touched Nico's hand, or leg?

It all made sense.

Though, he doubted Nico was gay. It would never happen.

_But._ The hopeful part of his mind reminded him. _You saw his checks turn pink when he put his head on your shoulder._

_Shut up, mind!_

He felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Leo, you okay?"

The heat on his cheeks from before subsided. He looked over at Nico and smiled.

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?" _I just realized I was wrong about my sexuality_. His mind added silently.

_I said shut up!_

Nico's brows scrunched together. "You sure? Look a little... Red..." Leo's hand flew up to his face.

"I must've gotten a sunburn. I'll take care of it later, don't worry." He added when Nico opened his mouth to say something more. He smiled again.

Nico just nodded slightly, obviously still not believing in Leo's words.

"Okay. Well, let's go inside. W–You don't want it to get any worse." Nico's face turned red when he began to say one thing, and said something else. The hopeful part of Leo's brain grew, despite the efforts of the doubtful part of his brain trying to push the former back down.

He nodded and stood up, offering his hand to Nico. He took it, and Leo almost blushed again.

_Am I going to have to shoot the hopeful part of my brain?_ He thought.

He walked over to the chairs, and grabbed his and Nico's shirt. He put his on, then handed Nico his.

They were mostly dry when they walked in, it was mostly just their hair and shorts that were still damp.

They ran into Jason on their way to Leo's room.

Jason looked questioningly at their hair and clothes, then Nico's face. Nico looked Jason in the eye and seemed to nod slightly. Realization dawned in Jason's eyes, and confusion laid still in Leo's as he looked between the two.

Jason just turned around and walked the other way, leaving a slightly pink Nico and a very confused Leo behind.


End file.
